14 April 2007
MAKING 'ID CARDS' AN ELECTION ISSUE
The local elections on May 3rd offer us another opportunity to raise awareness
and crank up the pressure on the government's ID scheme.
Whilst NO2ID must remain strictly non-partisan (we do not campaign for or
against any particular candidate or party) we do want every potential
representative to know that many voters are deeply concerned about state ID
control - 15 million across the UK, if we are to believe the most recently
leaked government figures - and that supporting the Home Office scheme will
negatively affect their electoral chances.
Electoral Commission rules prevent NO2ID from spending money supporting or
opposing particular candidates - they do not forbid us from publicising each
candidate's position on the ID scheme (or lack of it). What we want you to do is
find these out, and publish them as widely as possible in your area.
If you are having local elections, please ask each of your candidates the
following three questions, i.e. just the bit between *-begins-* and *-ends-* :
*-begins-*
*ID Questionnaire - sent to all candidates.*
You will no doubt be aware of the plan to introduce compulsory ID cards and
a set of linked databases to manage a "National Identity Scheme". As this is
an issue that will affect each and every voter, I am sending you this short
questionnaire so as to determine your position on the nationalisation of
personal identity.
1. Do you support plans for a Home Office agency to track the
life-history of every person over the age of 16 resident in your
ward? YES/NO
2. Do you support expenditure of your authority's funds on integrating
council computer systems with the Home Office identity management
databases and 'verification charges' for council services? YES/NO
3. Two dozen local authorities, the Welsh and London Assemblies and the
Scottish Parliament have passed motions opposing the National Identity
Scheme. If elected, will you vote for/oppose/abstain on such a
motion? VOTE FOR/OPPOSE/ABSTAIN
Please add any comments you may have:
Thank you in advance for your reply. It is my intention to publicise the
responses I receive so that voters may be clear on each candidate's position
before voting on May 3rd.
[Your name and contact details]
*-ends- *
You should do this by post, by e-mail and/or directly, e.g. at hustings, public
meetings or the candidate's own surgery.
ACT NOW, as we'll be asking you to send the results to your local newspaper in
next fortnight's newsletter. It is very important that you ask ALL candidates
EXACTLY the same questions, sending your requests at the same time. We do not
want people later claiming they weren't given the same chance as every other
candidate to respond.
Good luck!
What's next?
Home Affairs Committee surveillance society inquiry - Deadline 23rd April
The Home Affairs Committee has launched an inquiry entitled "A Surveillance
Society?". They are seeking written submissions of no more than 2,500 words by
Monday 23rd April. Further details are at:
www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/home_affairs_committee/hacpn070327no18.cfm
Local groups
A full list of local groups can be found at (www.no2id.net/localGroups) , a list
of the interrogation centres can be found at
(www.no2id.net/getInvolved/idCentres.php). If you can help to set up a local
group in one of the remaining towns then please contact us at
(office@no2id.net). There is also a detailed discussion of the interrogation
centres on our forum (http://forum.no2id.net/viewtopic.php?t=13329)
Saturdays 1pm - 3pm - NO2ID Edinburgh Campaign stall
After a short break during Christmas and Hogmanay NO2ID Edinburgh has resumed
its regular Princes Street campaigning stall on Saturdays. We shall be at our
usual location at the east end of Princes Street, opposite the Balmoral Hotel,
from 1pm - 3pm. We use our stall to raise public awareness of the Identity Cards
scheme, collect donations and entries for the NO2ID petition, and also to
increase membership of our group. Please do pop by for a chat if you happen to
be around. We aim to have the stall up and running most Saturdays, and new
volunteers are always very welcome. You can see photos of our stall and group
contact details at: www.no2id-scotland.net/edinburgh/
17th April - Glasgow NO2ID Meeting
Tuesday, 17th April at 8pm in Mono. All are welcome! See
http://www.glasgow-no2id.org.uk/meeting.html
19th April - North London NO2ID Social Night
7.30pm onwards. Hackney & Shoreditch, Islington and Camden
groups are getting together at The Canonbury pub - Canonbury Place, N1 2NS. Its
a strictly social evening so people can mix and get to know those in their own
and other groups - absolutely no NO2ID business will be conducted on this
event. A swear box will be enforced for those mentioning ID cards! (to fund the
cause of course)
19th April Manchester NO2ID Meeting
7pm - 9pm: Manchester NO2ID will be holding our monthly
meeting at the Friends Meeting House, Mount Street, Manchester. The venue is
wheelchair-accessible and all are welcome to attend. We'll be discussing the
forthcoming local elections, the recently defeated council motion opposing ID
cards, and closer integration with our student society.
20th April - Kensington & Chelsea NO2ID stall
At Portobello Green. Campaign stall where we will also be
selling our NO2ID mugs (a bargain at £4 on the stall or Kensington & Chelsea
will also do mail order + £3 pp. - contact kensington@no2id.net for more info).
26th April Manchester - Victoria Station Flyering
5:30pm - 6:30pm: Manchester NO2ID will be taking their
fortnightly flyering campaign back to Victoria Station to raise awareness of the
National Identity Register amongst Manchester commuters. This is a great way to
spend an hour meeting other NO2ID supporters, as well as doing something
positive for the campaign and still being home in time for tea. Meet outside
Victoria Station and look for the NO2ID T-shirts. You won't need to bring
anything other than your hands and a smile!
28th April - Cambridge NO2ID Campaign stall
Cambridge NO2ID will be running a Saturday street stall outside Cambridge
Guildhall from 10am onwards on Saturday 28th April and Saturdays in May.
Location Map: http://tinyurl.com/eo42r. Volunteers to help very welcome -
contact Andrew Watson via cambridge@no2id.net, or on 07710 469624.
1st May - Hackney & Shoreditch NO2ID meeting (Meetings the 1st Tuesday of every month) (**VENUE CHANGED**)
7.30pm. NB - the venue for Hackney & Shoreditch NO2ID meetings
has changed to:- The Pembury Tavern, 90 Amhurst Rd, London E8 1JH. Details:-
http://www.individualpubs.co.uk/pembury/ ,
http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/27/27595/Pembury_Tavern/Hackney
14th May - Highbury NO2ID Meeting (**NEW VENUE**)
Monday, 14th May, 7pm at The Canonbury - What better place to meet on a sunny
evening than in the Canonbury's lovely beer garden. We'll be having an informal
meeting about forthcoming events and ways to highlight the campaign in the local
area. All welcome. Address: Canonbury Place, N1 2NS
(http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&tab=wl&q=N1%202NS)
New Highbury NO2ID Mailing List
Highbury NO2ID now has a new email mailing list - sign up today to chat with
present group members and meet new supporters in the local area. To subscribe
visit http://www.no2id.net/mailman/listinfo/no2id.highbury
19th May - NO2ID stall at Levellers' Day, Burford
Saturday, 19th May - Kensington & Chelsea NO2ID will have a stall in Burford
with the help of Swindon and other local groups.
2nd June - NO2ID Stall at Cambridge Strawberry Fair
Volunteers needed to man the stall for 2 hour shifts from 10am until 10pm:
please contact cambridge@no2id.net, or text/call Andrew Watson on 07710 469624.
We signed up 750 supporters last year - we'd like to double that number this
year. (Strawberry Fair info: http://www.strawberry-fair.org.uk)
8th June - Cambridge NO2ID Public Meeting: "Whose identity is it anyway?"
Friday, 8th June 7.30pm at Parkside Community College, Cambridge CB1 1EH(Map:
http://www.multimap.com/map/browse.cgi?pc=CB11EH). Platform speakers: David
Howarth (MP for Cambridge, Lib Dem Energy Spokesperson), Ian Gibson (MP for
Norwich North, Labour), James Paice (MP for SE Cambs, Conservative Agriculture
spokesman), Phil Booth (NO2ID National Coordinator).
All welcome. Free (but donations welcome).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
What just happened?
New ID cards novel
NO2ID campaigner Barry Tighe has published a novel, called 'Identity Cards'. It
shows the effects of ID cards and their supporting database on the inhabitants
of the old Roman town of Spawater. What happens when a concerned group of
ordinary people decide to fight back against the imposition of identity cards
and the Big Brother state? NO2ID's Guy Herbert wrote the forward to the book
which is available from the publisher's website
(www.canwritewillwrite.com/shop.htm). One pound will be donated to NO2ID for
every copy sold through the Can Write Will Write UK Amazon shop.
Order from http://www.canwritewillwrite.com/shop.htm
Isle of Wight ID Day action
NO2ID campaigners in the Isle of Wight had a successful day of action on ID Day.
Glyn Roberts said: "First we picketed the new interrogation centre in Newport,
the Apex Centre, on a soul-less industrial estate. We then moved to the centre
of town where there were plenty of people and, by and large, got quite a good
response. More than 50% of passers-by took leaflets, several stopped and talked
about the issues, and one was so exercised by the whole business that he's ready
to help future actions." The group got some coverage in the 'Isle of Wight
County Press' and they are now planning to contact the Quakers, Amnesty and
others whose members might support NO2ID.
Norwich campaigning news
Norwich NO2ID held a public meeting at Hellesdon Community Centre on March 23rd.
The meeting was chaired by Andrew Watson from Cambridge. Speakers were Simon
Wright (Lib Dem), Vandra Ahlstrom (UK Independence Party) and Adrian Holmes
(Green Party). Group co-ordinator Rose King said: "The meeting was lively, but
all the audience were anti-ID: it would be nice to have a few pro-ID people turn
up, so we could change their minds." On ID Day (26th March) Simon Wright was out
collecting signatures on a Lib-Dem anti-ID petition in central Norwich, along
with Baroness Ros Scott. Rose added: "Simon and the Baroness took off to be
interviewed on Radio Norwich, but left Lib-Dem supporters collecting signatures.
I have to say that NO2ID could teach them a thing or two - no banners - not very
noticeable. Still, it all helps. Radio Norwich gave very good coverage."
Massive price hike for expat passports - and it's not an April Fool
On 1st April the price of British passports issued abroad rose by more than 25%.
British expat passports are now among the world's most expensive. For the
cheapest adult passport a Brit in the USA will now pay about £120. An American
living in Britain can get a US passport for about £34. In Paris a UK adult
passport now costs about £126. The maximum charge for a French passport at
France's consulate in London is just under £50. No official warning was given of
the massive price hikes - undoubtedly linked to biometrics and back-door
financing of the national identity scheme. A member of the NO2ID expats' group
was only told of the imminent leap in charges whilst giving a British consulate
an earful about the ID scheme. Having confirmed this with the FCO, the group
broke the news in a press release on ID-Day (see also following story). Of
course Brits abroad have no choice. As one outraged expat put it: "A British
family living in Calais will now have to pay upwards of £500 just for the right
to set foot in Dover." How long will it be before passport offices inside the
UK start charging the same?
Expats' ID-Day action reveals e-mail fiasco
Members of NO2ID's expats' group emailed the Foreign and Commonwealth Office
(FCO) on ID Day (26th March). They wanted assurances that they would not be
subject to interrogation, fingerprinting or iris-scanning at British consulates
or embassies when renewing their passports. The group believes that an
interrogating role for consular officials would inevitably damage their
relationship with British citizens living abroad. The FCO's response: a
two-line e-mail equivalent of "not us, mate - try the Home Office", plus a Home
Office e-mail address which doesn't exist. When told the address was wrong the
FCO apologised and sent a slightly different one. Which didn't work either. That
the FCO should want to sidestep the ID quagmire is understandable. But it makes
you wonder how bureaucrats who don't know each other's e-mail addresses will
manage to run the world's most complex surveillance database. There's some room
for hope then.
Biometrics: Europe's two fingers to Uncle Sam
Well, all this fingerprinting had to be done anyway, didn't it? Brussels wanted
two fingerprints in the passports, and the reason it wanted two fingerprints was
because the Americans wanted them, wasn't it? So it will just make things a bit
nicer for people who go to Florida, won't it? Er no, actually, it won't. Because
the Americans no longer want two of our digits. They want all ten. In a bid to
salvage their widely discredited US-VISIT border control programme, they have
suddenly decreed that two dabs do not an ID make. So where does that leave the
holders of the EU's brand-new bog standard ePassports, including the Brits? The
ORF, Austria's equivalent of the BBC, put the question to the German government,
which currently holds the EU presidency. "The aim of introducing electronic
passports," Berlin frostily replied, "is the secure comparison of the checked
person and the document when crossing a border [1:1 verification], for which two
fingerprints are suitable and entirely adequate … The European concept does not
provide for a database comparison [1:n identification] such as takes place, for
example, in the USA within the framework of the US-VISIT programme." In other
words, the new European ePassports do not meet American requirements, and there
are no plans for making them do so. The Austrian broadcaster also notes that the
EU passports cannot even be matched against European police databases of
criminals' fingerprints, currently being networked EU-wide. So "wanted criminals
who get a corrupt official anywhere in the EU to issue them with a passport in
another name, but with their own fingerprints, cannot be identified by this
means". Collapse of the rationale for Britain's brave new fingerprinting
centres. What next? Toeprints?
A third ‘will refuse ID checks’
One in three people are expected not to cooperate with identity card checks,
Home Office papers from 2004 suggest. The documents obtained under the Freedom
Of Information Act are at (www.dwp.gov.uk/pub_scheme/2007/apr).
http://www.no2id.net/news/newsblog/?p=566
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"ID" in the news
Politics delays ID card tender - Computing 12/04/07
The government’s ID card procurement will go ahead slightly later than planned
so it can benefit from the ‘clear air’ of a new prime minister, say sources.
http://www.computing.co.uk/computing/news/2187548/politics-delays-id-card-tender
Atos Origin's £257m DH diagnostics contract suspended - eHealth Insider 12/04/07
A £257m contract for diagnostic services in North-west and South-west England
awarded to Atos Origin last December has been suspended after the Department of
Health ordered an independent review following concerns about quality and
administrative procedures.
http://www.e-health-insider.com/news/item.cfm?ID=2608
ID cards to spark mass revolt - Precision Marketing Magazine 11/04/07
The introduction of ID cards is likely to lead to public protests on a similar
scale to the poll tax revolts in the early Nineties, according to internal
government documents. Home Office files, released under the Freedom of
Information Act, predict that an estimated 15 million people will refuse to
carry the cards or provide personal data on demand.http://www.precisionmarketing.co.uk/Articles/253416/ID+cards+to+spark+mass+revolt+.html
Schools' bid to fingerprint kids - The Sun 9/04/07
Almost six million children at 17,000 schools could have their fingerprints
taken. Soaring numbers of schools require pupils to have biometric checks to
register, borrow books or buy food. It emerged that less than one quarter of
local education authorities have banned collecting fingerprints. The rest either
allow it or have no policy at all, potentially allowing headteachers to gather
biometric data from around 5.9 million English schoolchildren as young as four.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2007160290,00.html
‘Millions to rebel’ over ID cards - Sunday Times 8/04/07
The government is predicting that some 15m people will revolt against Tony
Blair’s controversial ID card scheme by refusing to produce the new cards or
provide personal data on demand.The documents, quietly released during
parliament’s Easter break, also show that the government is planning to make ID
cards compulsory in 2014, despite the expected revolt.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1626768.ece
Five civil servants suspended over 'DNA espionage' - Evening Standard 31/03/07
Five civil servants who help run the national DNA database have been suspended
after being accused of industrial espionage. It is alleged they copied
confidential information and used it to set up a rival database in competition
with their employers, the Government's Forensic Science Service.
http://tinyurl.com/ysfgcc
(Please send me any items of interest you encounter - Editor(newsletter@no2id.net) )
Publication details: © NO2ID 2010 - This document may be freely redistributed
in one-to-one communications or physical copies as long as it is reproduced
in its entirety including this notice. It may not be mass-mailed without
the prior permission of NO2ID.
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